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Pedestrian crossings are key

Thu., Aug. 27, 2015

Re: Fine for distracted walkers? Letter Aug. 24

Fine for distracted walkers? Letter Aug. 24

Joel Lawrence Hertz may not get much done with his suggestion of fining walkers distracted by cellphones, texting or whatever, but what would make a lot of sense would be to prohibit the use of any such distractions by pedestrians while crossing roads.

Drivers on the road are being required to pay close attention to pedestrians; surely pedestrians crossing the roads should have similar obligations to drivers. Those pedestrians texting or talking tend to walk even slower, while the driver is obliged to wait that much longer.

Pip Wedge, Toronto

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I think this letter writer had a brilliant suggestion about people who walk and talk (and text) on cellphones and are not paying attention to where they are walking. He suggested maybe there should be a fine for this, including three points against the person’s “walking record.”

My added suggestion is that an individual who has points against their “walking record” and is hit by a bike, car, bus (or mac truck!), could be held responsible for the “accident” rather than the driver of the vehicle that hit them.

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